Developers Now Receiving Apple TV Units for App Testing Purposes

[Smith288]

Got my AppleTV.... Though it's really nothing more than a hardware version of the software simulator that I can hook up to the tv (no appstore, no apps. Just itunes movies and music access). Im happy about it though. Need to develop on it and see what I can make that you all can't live without.

EDIT: Did I say too much? NDA in effect from here on out.

 

[Surf Donkey]

Fiber is nowhere near a mainstream option.

A stable 15Mbps excludes a huge amount of people. I have a 50mbit connection and can only get the advertised speed after about 1AM. It dips down to under 10mbit during the day. And I do not live in the sticks.

Sounds like you need a new ISP or some competition in your area. Especially if your 50mbit connection can't do 10mbit at peak times.

Never said fiber is the mainstream, but it is for sure growing. For example, in Oregon 76% of our population has access to Fiber (and this is not including Google Fiber still on the way to the Portland area).

All that said, compression technologies are the key here (Silicon Valley isn't all fiction ), and the 4K content providers (I think likely lead by streaming 4K sports broadcasts) will make sure there is a way to get it delivered to the populous. Hell, not long ago, I never dreamed 1080p would be possible.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Sounds like you need a new ISP or some competition in your area. Especially if your 50mbit connection can't do 10mbit at peak times.

Never said fiber is the mainstream, but it is for sure growing. For example, in Oregon 76% of our population has access to Fiber (and this is not including Google Fiber still on the way to the Portland area).

All that said, compression technologies are the key here (Silicon Valley isn't all fiction ), and the 4K content providers (I think likely lead by streaming 4K sports broadcasts) will make sure there is a way to get it delivered to the populous. Hell, not long ago, I never dreamed 1080p would be possible.

Yeah, sure. I need fiber and more competition - so do 100 million other Americans. Progress in that department will be measured in decades, not years. Certainly not one product cycle of a set top box.

 

[16Paws]

Yep. I've got one coming. I'm not going to post any photos or status updates. I appreciate the gift.

I think that the right thing to do.

 

[Smith288]

Yeah, sure. I need fiber and more competition - so do 100 million other Americans. Progress in that department will be measured in decades, not years. Certainly not one product cycle of a set top box.

This made me laugh out loud. Someone either lives in the heart of San Fran where they take high speed for granted or they are clueless as to how about 90% of America has like, 1 or 2 choices in craptacular ISP.

 

[moogleii]

I'm pretty sure the NDA said not to post any pictures, or discuss it, but I could be wrong.

It definitely did.

 

[16Paws]

If we want some sort of lessening of the air of secrecy from Apple so that developers can get a little preview access we need to abide by the NDAs we sign. Apple has no obligations to give these things away early, much less at the $1 that has been reported, lets not give them a reason to stop with this course of action.

 

[firewood]

So 10 years from now we will still all be on 1080P?

Nope. 10 years from now, there will be something better than today's 4k. But not because the typical tv customer on their couch can see the difference due to higher resolution than 1080p, but because future technology than available today will provide better color reproduction and less compression artifacts. Apple can wait till this happens.

 

[k1121j]

I wonder why they are making us wait so long for this. Do they need more time to make enough to fulfill demand? Or do they want to wait until a few good apps are available at launch?

i would say its apps.. a low supply at launch to me seems like something they always try for if you know what i mean is Demand and supply after all

 

[16Paws]

I maintain that the primary reason for holding out on 4K is for user experience. A vast majority of users cannot download mainstream content 4K at a reasonable speed and until that happens with better infrastructure (or better compression) I don't know that it will be supported. Apple wouldn't want to (and other manufacturer's maybe shouldn't) push a technology that could potentially lead to incredibly long wait times while the content is loading. Could this be automatically optimized? Sure, but I think that if you push a technology it shouldn't have to be automatically downgraded to work well for streaming main stream content. There is of course an argument for users wanting to display their own 4K content, but I think that many users will not utilize 4K until they can easily get content in their homes without major delays due to slow speeds.


May not be 100% on the money, but I think the theory has legs.

 

[Surf Donkey]

Yeah, sure. I need fiber and more competition - so do 100 million other Americans. Progress in that department will be measured in decades, not years. Certainly not one product cycle of a set top box.

Sorry but I call BS. If you are dropping under 10 with 50 service you or your provider has an issue. Fiber is rolling out in tons of major cities now. Decades?? For real? Decades ago I was on dial up at best. Stop being so dramatic. Most homes have or will soon have 15 MBps service need for 4k.

 

[firewood]

I wonder why they are making us wait so long for this. Do they need more time to make enough to fulfill demand? Or do they want to wait until a few good apps are available at launch?

tvOS is still in beta test. It will hard to get enough testing for the OS to go GM until enough developers have started making and testing a lot of their new tv apps on the beta(s). I expect Apple will be getting a lot of bug reports from developers over the next couple weeks.

Apple can't ship the hardware to (non-dev) customers until the OS is out of beta.

 

[Surf Donkey]

This made me laugh out loud. Someone either lives in the heart of San Fran where they take high speed for granted or they are clueless as to how about 90% of America has like, 1 or 2 choices in craptacular ISP.

Where is this 90% stat from? This looks like far more than 10% of the population with broadband >10Mbps

 

[Earz6280]

Wow 4K. Just wow! Thank you Apple!

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Got my AppleTV.... Though it's really nothing more than a hardware version of the software simulator that I can hook up to the tv (no appstore, no apps. Just itunes movies and music access). Im happy about it though. Need to develop on it and see what I can make that you all can't live without.

Make something great. I've long believed that the developer community would innovate dazzling functionality even if Apple wanted to keep treating this thing like a hobby. Now that there will be an app store, I can hardly wait to see the great stuff to come out from people like you.

 

[koolaid-drinker]

Can we move the 4K discussion to a new forum posting?

This is suppose to be for talk about the new apple tv.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Sorry but I call BS. If you are dropping under 10 with 50 service you or your provider has an issue. Fiber is rolling out in tons of major cities now. Decades?? For real? Decades ago I was on dial up at best. Stop being so dramatic. Most homes have or will soon have 15 MBps service need for 4k.

Sure. My provider has an issue, which is too many customers sharing too little bandwidth. Speeds drop precipitously during peak times. Their only competition is much slower DSL service, so they will never change a thing. There are no plans to bring fiber to my area. None. If nobody's even talking about it, 10 years out is a pretty safe guess.

You may live in some magical broadband utopia. Most people do not.

 

[JoeShades]

Can we move the 4K discussion to a new forum posting?

This is suppose to be for talk about the new apple tv.

Yeah it is ridiculous, every discussion turns into 4K thread, are there any Mods in this place?

 

[Stetrain]

The cable is clearly lighting on one end. I'd like to think it was Type C-Lightning (makes sense) but the lighting looks like there's a corner on the Black cable (me thinks it's Type A-Lightning). Do wonder when the Type C 2.0 to Lightning cable will emerge.

Here's another picture, looks like USB-C to me:

http://i.imgur.com/MY2YHJs.jpg

https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hi...oads/chorus_asset/file/632060/usbtypec2.0.jpg

 

[Keirasplace]

What killed me about the 3DTV B.S.: It didn't seem at all like a natural progression. Some would say the same about 4k right now....and of HDTV in the late 90's....but those seem like natural progressions of a technology evolving over time. HD did and 4k will re-define standards given enough time. Thats the key factor.

3DTV just felt like some junk that large companies tried to tell us we would like.....and well look how well that plan worked out.

Edit: Look back over the course of time....3D in movie theaters (multiple times over the decades) and this past time with 3DTV....each time has been met by the general public with a lukewarm "meh." Just saying. The history is there....maybe we can try smell o' vision in theaters again and see how well that goes this time too

4k will actually stay around.

It will stay around not because of the 4K, but because newer panels are better in other ways... So, the 4K is not the reason they'll look better, but will just be incidental to other improvements like better contrasts and HDR which could have occured in 1080P panels too.

The reason TV makers push for 4K is simple, they want people to want to upgrade and they'Re margins are always better on things that are perceived as new than on older tech.

That's the reason Plasma eventually vanished despite being fantastic, because it was "old" makers couldn't sustain higher margins despite manufacturing costs being higher for plasma. People still wonder why on earth my 4 year old plasma looks better than their cheap new LCD 4K... Well, hey, that's how it is... I'm waiting for 65 inch LCD that don't look terrible for under $2000 (or OLED that don't have aging issues and are of those prices), before switching to a new TV.

 

[BuddyTronic]

A white AND black lightning to USB cable!? Interesting. The original unboxing from last week didn't show a black lightning cable.

The black one is not lightning

 

[2010mini]

Sounds like you need a new ISP or some competition in your area. Especially if your 50mbit connection can't do 10mbit at peak times.

Never said fiber is the mainstream, but it is for sure growing. For example, in Oregon 76% of our population has access to Fiber (and this is not including Google Fiber still on the way to the Portland area).

All that said, compression technologies are the key here (Silicon Valley isn't all fiction ), and the 4K content providers (I think likely lead by streaming 4K sports broadcasts) will make sure there is a way to get it delivered to the populous. Hell, not long ago, I never dreamed 1080p would be possible.

It's so sad ISPs don't want to develop their networks. You think with all the dark fiber lines all over the US. One of them would want to put those already laid and dormant lines to use???

Optimum used to be the sole broadband provider in my area for a long time. With only DSL as their competitor. Their service sucked and their prices were high. Then Verizon Fios came. And poof!!!! Optimum's service level rise and their prices came down. It was a miracle I tell you.... A miracle!!!!!

 

[tjg4005]

Do they get to keep the Development Kits or do they have to return them after awhile?

 

[Smith288]

Do they get to keep the Development Kits or do they have to return them after awhile?

They aren't getting mine back. Just kidding. We get to keep it.

 

[ErikGrim]

I'm going to guess that's for 3 reasons:

1. Not enough people have 4K TVs, or know/care about 4K, and there's not enough 4K content yet anyway for not having it to be a major problem.

2. The ATV is probably powerful enough for 4K video, but probably not enough for 4K graphics/apps at 30+ fps. Apple doesn't want some things in 4K and others not in 4K.

3. Apple wants an upgrade feature for the next version.

This is basically it. I own a 65" 4K and I would definitely see the benefits of 4K. But:

1) I realise I am on the cutting edge of this

2) Having collected 4K content since getting my 5K iMac in November I know the sorry state of content availability

3) 4K at constant 60fps for games and apps is going to push that A8X chip

So all in all I am content with waiting a generation for the TV to catch up with 4K. In the meantime I can still just run an HDMI cable from the iMac if I want to watch my existing collection of 4K content. And let's not forget that the competition aren't there yet either. Amazon's "4K" is only at 30hz, so that's a crappy experience as well.